Shale Oil and Gas Resources Globally Abundant, Says EIA

Estimated shale oil and shale gas resources in the U.S. and in 137 shale formations in 41 other countries represent 10% of the world’s crude oil and 32% of global natural gas technically recoverable resources—those that can be produced using current technology without reference to economic profitability—according to a study sponsored by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

More than half of the identified shale oil resources outside the U.S. are concentrated in four countries, Russia, China, Argentina, and Libya, while more than half of the non-U.S. shale gas resources are concentrated in five countries, China, Argentina, Algeria, Canada, and Mexico. The U.S. is ranked second after Russia for shale oil resources and fourth after Algeria for shale gas when compared with the 41 nations assessed.
“Technically Recoverable Shale Oil and Shale Gas Resources” estimates that shale resources, considered in conjunction with EIA’s own assessment of volumes within the U.S., indicate 345 Bbbl of world shale oil are technically recoverable, as are 7299 Tcf of world shale gas. While the report considers more shale formations than were assessed in the previous version of the study, it still does not include many prospective shale formations, such as those underlying the large oil fields located in the Middle East and the Caspian region. Currently, only the U.S. and Canada are producing shale oil and shale gas in commercial quantities.
Because they have proven to be quickly producible in large quantities at relatively low cost, shale/tight oil and shale gas resources have revolutionized U.S. oil and natural gas production, providing 29% of total crude oil production and 40% of total natural gas production in 2012, notes EIA. However, given the variation across the world’s shale formations in both geology and above-ground conditions, the extent to which global technically recoverable shale resources will prove to be economically recoverable is not yet clear. The market impact of shale resources outside the U.S. will depend on nations’ own production costs and volumes. Several countries have begun to evaluate their shale formation production potential, among them Poland, Argentina, Australia, China, England, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.